Iran warns Turkey on NATO missile plan

A senior Iranian commander has warned Turkey against adverse consequences of its agreement to host the base for the US-led NATO missile shield system, urging the neighboring state to reconsider its strategic interests.

Turkey should rethink its long-term strategic interests and draw lessons from "bitter historical experiences" of other countries, said Deputy Head of Iran's Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri on Sunday.

Ankara should rely more on the strength of its Muslim nation as well as the potency of Muslims elsewhere and assume a role geared towards improving security in the region, he added, IRNA reported.

The Iranian commander emphasized that Turkey should be held accountable for its all-out support for the Israeli regime following Ankara's agreement with the installation of the US-backed missile shield on its soil.

He also pointed to "serious concerns" among US officials about emerging threats to the very existence of the occupying Israeli regime and insisted that Washington seeks to utilize all possible means and opportunities, including its so-called missile shield deployment in Turkey, to salvage Israel.

Turkey claims that NATO's missile system aims to strengthen the alliance's "defense capacity and strengthen [Turkey's] national defense system," and would not target any specific country.

However, in efforts to ease major Russian concerns regarding the missile system, Washington has clearly implied on numerous occasions that Iran is the primary target of its so-called missile shield deployment in Europe.

Following Ankara's announcement, Russia also blasted the plan as an effort by NATO to advance eastward.

Moreover, US media have quoted unnamed senior US officials in the past week that NATO will ordinarily provide Israel with all the data obtained by its missile shield system in Turkey although the Tel Aviv regime is not a NATO member.